Free AI Visibility Checker
An AI assistant can only recommend a business it can reach and read. Enter your website and the checker tests the crawlers behind ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google's AI Overviews: your robots.txt rules for each one, whether your firewall lets them in, whether the page is indexable and readable without JavaScript, and whether it states your business identity in structured data. Then it gives you the prompts to test the answers yourself.
What AI visibility actually depends on
AI assistants do not remember most local businesses: they look them up. ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Claude, Copilot and Google's AI features answer from a search index or a live fetch at the moment someone asks, so the first test of AI visibility is the oldest one in search: can the crawler get in, and is there something to read when it does?
| AI product | Crawler it relies on | Common blocker |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews, AI Mode | Googlebot (the normal Google index) | noindex, nosnippet, a blocked page in robots.txt |
| Copilot | Bingbot (the Bing index) | A site never verified or crawled by Bing |
| ChatGPT search | OAI-SearchBot, plus ChatGPT-User for pages a user asks it to open | Firewall or CDN "block AI bots" rules |
| Claude | Claude-SearchBot, plus Claude-User for user requests | Firewall rules, JavaScript-only content |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot, plus Perplexity-User for user requests | Firewall rules, JavaScript-only content |
Two failures are far more common than people expect. The first is a firewall that answers AI crawlers differently from a browser, often through a hosting or CDN setting someone switched on once and forgot. The second is content that only appears after JavaScript runs: most AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript, so a page that looks complete in your browser can be almost empty to them. The checker tests both directly.
How the score works
| Check | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| robots.txt access | 25 | 5 each for Googlebot, Bingbot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot on this exact page. |
| Firewall answers | 15 | 5 each when a request identifying as an AI search crawler gets the same answer as a browser. |
| Indexable | 15 | No noindex in the meta robots tag or the X-Robots-Tag header. |
| Readable without JavaScript | 15 | 250+ words in the HTML itself; partial credit from 100. |
| Business identity | 10 | Organization or LocalBusiness JSON-LD, with address and phone. |
| Snippets, title, sitemap, HTTPS | 20 | Quotable page, a title and description, a sitemap, HTTPS without long redirect chains. |
Training crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, Applebot-Extended, CCBot, Meta-ExternalAgent) and llms.txt are reported but never scored, because neither decides whether an AI search answer can cite you. Blocking training is your call. On our own site every AI crawler is allowed, training included, because a young brand wants models to learn it exists.
Why the checker does not ask ChatGPT for you
One answer from one chatbot proves very little. A 2026 study that ran the same prompts thousands of times across ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI features found the same list of brands in fewer than 1 in 100 runs. What you can measure is a presence rate: run the same prompts several times on each assistant, note whether you appear, and repeat monthly. The checker writes those prompts for your business, category and city. For tools that automate it, see our comparison of AI citation tracking tools.
For local businesses: the listing layer AI answers lean on
For "best dentist near me" style questions, AI assistants do not rely on your website alone. Industry studies of local AI answers in 2026 found business websites behind roughly two in five citations, with Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook and niche directories behind most of the rest. When those sources disagree about your name, address or phone, an assistant has less reason to trust any of them. Read how citations feed AI search and how to get recommended by ChatGPT, find the directories that matter in your market with the free local citation finder, and check what they publish about you today with the free NAP checker.
If you would rather have the listings built and kept consistent for you, with every live listing recorded with its URL and a screenshot, that is our citation building service.
AI answers trust a business whose listings match. Check yours free, or get your first citation built free.
Frequently asked questions
What does an AI visibility checker test?
This one tests whether the crawlers behind AI search answers can reach and read your page: Googlebot (AI Overviews and AI Mode), Bingbot (Copilot), OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. It reads your robots.txt rules for each of them, requests the page while identifying as three AI crawlers to catch firewall blocks, and checks indexing directives, text readable without JavaScript, business structured data, your sitemap and llms.txt.
Does it tell me whether ChatGPT recommends my business?
No, and no single check can. AI answers vary from run to run: in one 2026 study the same prompt returned the same list of brands in fewer than 1 in 100 runs. So the checker gives you a set of prompts for your business, category and city to run yourself in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Claude, several times each, and to record how often you appear.
If I block GPTBot, will my business disappear from ChatGPT?
Not from ChatGPT search. OpenAI documents GPTBot as its training crawler and OAI-SearchBot as the crawler for search results, controlled separately in robots.txt. Blocking training crawlers is a policy choice that does not remove you from AI search answers, which is why the checker reports training access but does not score it.
Do I need an llms.txt file to appear in AI search?
No. Google has said its search features, AI Overviews and AI Mode included, do not use llms.txt, and an industry log study in 2026 found most llms.txt files received no requests at all. Some AI agents and auditing tools do read it, so it is a cheap optional extra, never a substitute for crawlable, indexable pages. Our free llms.txt generator builds one in a minute.
Why does the firewall check matter?
Because robots.txt can say yes while your firewall says no. CDN and hosting bot-protection settings, including one-click "block AI bots" switches, often answer AI crawlers with a 403 or a challenge page. The checker requests your page as a normal browser and again while identifying as OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot, and flags any difference. Real crawlers also come from published IP ranges, so confirm a block in your firewall logs.
Is the AI visibility checker free? Do you store my URL?
It is free with no signup. The check runs on our server because your browser cannot read another site's robots.txt, and the result is kept in memory for ten minutes so a refresh does not re-run it, then discarded. We do not store the URL you enter or the result.
What matters most for local businesses in AI answers?
For local queries AI assistants lean on your own website, your Google Business Profile and the directories and review sites that describe you. Industry studies of local AI answers in 2026 put business websites at roughly two in five citations, with Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook and niche directories making up most of the rest. Consistent name, address and phone everywhere is what lets them agree that it is you.